1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to computer software, and in particular, to software for media players and encoders.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumers enjoy listening to and watching various forms of media clips including audio works and video works. Such media clips include, for example, music, videos, movies, home videos, etc. These media clips can be used for a variety of purposes, such as to inform, to educate, or to entertain. Media clips can be played or displayed using a computer, such as a personal computer. Media clips can be retrieved from a variety of sources, including remote sources over a computer network. In addition, media clips can be “streamed” across a computer network.
Streaming techniques are data transfer techniques that permit a media data, such as a media clip, to be used relatively soon after the media clip is selected. With streaming, the selected data can be used, e.g., displayed or played, before all of the data for the media clip is received or even generated. This makes it practical for a media player to, for example, display a newscast or to play back a commentary of a sporting event in a live or nearly live manner. Streaming techniques also shorten the amount of time between selection of a media clip and the displaying or playing of the media clip.
Despite the advantages of streaming, there remains a relatively lengthy delay between the time when playback of a media clip is selected and the time when playback of the media clip actually begins.